It should grow new leaves just fine if it gets happy where it is now :) I don't remember how long it takes, but it'll happen if you see good green stems.

I'm north of you in NC, and my happy blueberries are in shade for most of the afternoon (about 3pm on) after getting sun since sunrise. My others are harder to keep moist enough and/or just in too much sun, yeah. I'm transplanting those :)

They might like more water than you are used to giving plants. I know they surprised me that way. And they are picky about needing acid soil. No compromise about that!

Good luck :) Sunshine Blue is the small one I grow, and I recommend him heartily if you want a pollinator to increase your yields.

Thanks, I will look for a Sunshine blue plant to pollinate it. I wasn't sure which rabbiteye was the best to go with since they all have different flowering times. How often do you water yours? I'm keeping this one potted to control the soil acidity. Perhaps I'll move mine where it gets morning sun instead of afternoon since it's still potted; I burned two Climaxes up in full sun last year- Texas summers can be brutal!

In zone 8B Texas, my Pink lemonade and Austin (RE) blossomed at the same time around mid March, Sunshine blue started flowering in late November and still has been flowering (as of mid April) continuously. Pink lemonade is stated self-fertile but if you have another pollinizer plant you will get better yield and larger berries. I have experienced SHB can pollinate RE and Sunshine blue could be the one as it tastes excellent and blossoms for a long time. I have also read Legacy (not experienced, as Legacy does not meet chilling hours in my area but Walmart and Home Depot sell this variety anyway) also blossoms for a long period of time and can be a potential pollinizer plant for several other varieties. I have to water all my blueberry plants every other day (if not every day) as it gets very hot in summer and all my plants are potted. Make sure to adjust your water pH around 5, if using municipal water like in my area with pH 8.3.

Good info inkfin! I have to remember Austin. I heard reports of RE not blooming at the right time for lemonade, it may just have been the area. I would like to get Pink Lemonade, and I have Legacy, so I might be good! I have a couple SHB, but here NHB is best.

Here in the PNW, all blueberries flower at about the same time - they just ripen at different times - so picking a second pollination buddy is the gardener's choice. I would, however, not pick a very early season berry to partner with a very late season berry. That may be pushing the envelop ;-)

btw, ALL blueberries are self-fertile. You just get bigger and better crops if you have at least one other different berry for cross pollination.

Shan - I would provide some shade, full sun does not equal full texas sun in my opinion. Another to consider is to provide some protection to keep the pot itself cooler and from drying out as fast. My back patio turns little black pots in to plant easy bake ovens.

A quick update; I moved the pot to a space that gets some afternoon shade and cut back the dead branches. I am pleased to announce there is some new growth! I may become adept at growing blueberries!

I live in Peoria, AZ. Summer temps are average 100 to 110 degrees I have 4 pink lemonade in 15 gallon containers, that I purchased last year, they made it through the Summer here just fine, thickly mulched and wrapped the containers in aluminum foil to reflect the sun and keep pots cool, I set up afternoon shade so from about 3pm on they were in partial to full shade, watered every other day, and once a week with ammonium sulfate at 1 tsp to 2.5 gallons water, as was suggested on this site, gained a lot of size, bloomed well this year and set fruit well to. BTW I also have a Legacy that I purchased from Walmart 2 years ago clearance at 1.50, that is not supposed to work here as I only got 250 chill hours last year, and it still bloomed really well and set a decent amount of fruit about 3 lbs worth total, not a ton but enough for me to keep it.

how long can you stare at the tinfoil pots in the day time? gotta be blinding

The Pink Lemonade is still doing well next to the fence where it gets some shade during the day. I've ordered a Sunshine Blue so it will have a friend to bloom with next year and a Jewel blueberry because Burpee was having a great sale and all the Home Depot blueberries cost the same didn't list the variety anywhere on the pots, lol.

Awesome, Shan! My Sunshine Blue has been giving me lots of berries here for about the past week, and they are delicious. My Chandlers are beginning ripening now, and their bloom also overlapped, in case anyone is interested in that. Those are really big berries.

Could you elaborate on that foil wrapping captaininsano? I asked about it in a post earlier and was told it does not work as the foil conducts heat, but I use foil on my air layers to keep the soil ball cool while the branch roots so in my head it should work. Also could I get away with growing a sunshine blue in something smaller than 15 gallon? The only pots I have that size are the black plastic nursery ones, which I assume will absorb lots of heat in my sun. I bought a sunshine blue in a gallon or so pot back in December.

Dan,

I took a sander and roughed up the slick areas on the black containers and took a can of white primer and spray painted it. The primer stuck well and did not peal. I could not see a difference in the one I painted and the ones I did not. The plastics does get very hot but does not seem to hurt anything. Many people grow in fabric pots to prune the outer roots. I assume a hot black pot would do the same. I have also planted blueberries in 5 gallon lowes buckets. They do not get as hot since they are not black on only cost about $3.

BahamaDan,

Though the question was asked to Captaininsano, I am replying you as my bbs also suffered Texas' triple digit mercury readings for days and plants were like in an oven. I wrapped my black nursery pot with aluminum foil and it helped a little as the sunlight was reflected by foil and black plastic could not absorb the heat as much. Then thinking about protecting the root from freezing in winter I came up with an idea to wrap the nursery pot first with packaging bubble wrap and then with foil on the outer side. The bubble wrap created a nice insulator and prevented the heat (and that is going to prevent the cold in winter as well) and foil reflected the sunlight, a perfect match! Some remaining pots, I simply painted the outside with "Exterior Flat White Latex-Base Paint and Primer in One" and that was also great as the white color reflected the sunlight and did not absorb heat!! I have posted the picture of foil+bubble wrapped and white painted pots side by side. Don't judge them by the growth of bb plants as the plants are of different cultivars with different growth habit and are of different age :-)

Yes aluminum foil does conduct heat it is actually a great conductor of heat but for the same reason it loses heat very quickly as well, and does not hold heat like plastic or other metals the pot will be at the same ambient temperature as the air but it reflects the direct sun which heats the pot beyond the air temperature, I will see in the next couple days if I can get a reading on two different pots to share.

Thanks for all the replies! Good overview Gary, I didn't think the color of the pots was any issue at first but I went to move some spring onions a couple weeks ago and when I stuck my finger in the soil it was very hot! More so than the air, and they weren't even sitting on my concrete patio. That doesn't seem terribly healthy for root growth.

Inkfin no worries as I just didn't realize other people were experimenting with it as well. Very nice setup you have, how do you do the foil? E.g. wrap long ways down all around, and how do you secure the end flap of the sheet to the side of the container? Which blues are those? I'm assuming the right one is dwarf.

Captain I that reasoning makes sense I suppose, if it conducts heat quickly would not it then be quickly heated up in the day? 90 degrees air temperature reflected in the soil is certainly better than 112 from the sun intensity and heat buildup :-)

Dan,

Yes, I wrapped the foil long ways down all around the pot and taped with aluminum tape at the end flap of the overlapped sheet. No, both of them are high bush, the one on the right is Spring High, it is less than a six month old started from maybe 3" tall tissue culture, and the one on the left is also less than a year old Gurney's KaBluey.

Oh o.k., sounds good. My local hardware store has both spring high and sweetcrisp as nice 2 foot or so plants but I think those require some chill to do well and we have absolutely none. Very tempting though...

Dan,

If it is a true-to-type variety, both sweetcrisp and spring high are excellent in flavor, you don't want to miss this opportunity. Sweetcrisp needs only 200-300 chill hours and spring high needs only 200 chill hours. Want some reviews on sweetcrisp and spring high? http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/1458343/sweetcrisp-blueberry-review?n=4

http://www.ourfigs.com/forum/blueberry-home/5684-sweetcrisps

Dan, If you had an old fridge you could set it on about 40 degrees and set the blueberries in it every night for about 3 weeks. I have never done it but don't see why it would not work. You would really have to want Sweetcrisp and spring high blueberries.